Is the INC imploding?

Not all is well in the Iglesia ni Cristo.

The INC is in turmoil, evidenced by the recent about-face of one of its ministers, Lowell Menorca, who now alleges that he had been kidnapped by INC enforcers and nearly killed.

Is the homegrown church in danger of imploding?

From news reports, we on the outside gather that some fiddling with INC funds has been taking place. Menorca and like-minded INC officials claim that they’ve witnessed, or at least suspect, that the church’s funds have been used for personal expenses by some of its bigwigs.

Having the audacity to divulge such suspicions or knowledge on their part, Menorca and others are being muscled out of the organization. To keep them from talking, they’ve been threatened or even physically hurt, according to their revelations.

Menorca has accused some police officers of acting as the INC leadership’s enforcers. Police brass said they’re investigating.

If Menorca & Co.’s allegations are true, the INC as a whole is in for turbulent times ahead. The church as INC officials and members know it may not be so after the storm.

This is why, one surmises, the INC leadership wanted to muzzle Menorca and others who had attempted to spill the beans on their church. They even went to the extent of mobilizing 15,000 of their members in a show of strength on Edsa-Shaw Boulevard as an effort to put the fear in government authorities who might have wanted to probe deeper into the alleged INC actions against its own officials.

And now Menorca warns that another attempt at street disturbance may be ordered by the INC leadership, again to discourage both their recalcitrant members like Menorca from further revelations and government authorities from further investigating.

Is the INC in real trouble? Will it lose its political power? Will its members have second thoughts about their church and leave?

History tells us that powerful organizations, or empires if you will, often destroy themselves from implosion.

Formidable empires are able to fend off challenges from the outside because of their perceived and real power.

Absolute loyalty from their members buttress that power.

But, once internal dissension sets in, trouble emanates from pockets of disobedience from within. Rebellious officers band together to topple the leadership. Members begin to doubt their affiliation and start to have second thoughts about their loyalty to the empire. Collapse follows.

Is the INC in peril from within? The cracks are showing and who knows if the edifice will withstand the pressure. The INC leadership is acting to plug the cracks.

What’s worrying about recent actions of INC is the presence of enforcers at the leadership’s command. If Menorca is to be believed, he was abducted by INC people with the aid of police operatives. Muscular and heavily tinted cars have appeared to be part of INC security forces, seemingly Mafia-like in appearance.

What’s worrying too is the deafening silence from usually noisy politicians who otherwise weigh in on practically every controversy there is. Politicians are afraid of the INC, there’s no question about that. The INC commands hundreds of thousands of votes, maybe millions, and they’re crucial particularly in local elections. It’s not a big mystery why the politicians are quiet about the INC controversy.

How will this challenge to the INC leadership going to end? Will the government pursue cases against INC leaders accused of illegal detention, grave threats, and maybe even frustrated murder?

The Philippine justice system is slow as it is. We can’t hold our breath waiting for what the government will do. But sooner or later, without doubt later, the government will show us whether it has cojones or not.

Source:

http://www.mb.com.ph/is-the-inc-imploding/